1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of tools for animal care, and more particularly to a means for positioning and holding the hoof of an animal, particularly of a horse. The predominant current usage of the present inventive hoof care stand is as an aid to cleaning and shoeing the hooves of horses.
2. Description of the Background Art
Most farriers physically support the leg of a horse during shoeing operations, and the like, by holding the horse's leg between their own legs, with the horse leg coming through the farrier's legs from the farrier's backside. This is a precarious, sometimes dangerous position and always a physically-demanding position. First, the farrier must remove the old horseshoe. Then the hoof must be trimmed and filed. Next, the new shoe must be fitted to the hoof profile and nailed in place. Finally, the nails are clinched and the anterior profile of the hoof is filed and shaped. All of these operations are best performed with the hoof supported at an elevation above ground level.
In an effort to avoid this problem several implements have been devised to hold, or assist in holding, the leg of a horse or similar animal. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,216, issued to Beaston, teaches a Multiple Stand To Aid Shoeing Horse which has a two-position tripod-type stand having a pair of alternating upright members disposed at a right angle with respect to one another. A pair of opposing legs are connected to the vertex joint of the uprights, each at a slightly obtuse angle with respect to both uprights. In one position, one upright extends vertically upward while the second upright acts as the third leg of the tripod. In the second position, the second upright extends vertically upward while the first upright acts as the third leg of the tripod. A hard hoof cradle is attached to the distal end of one of the uprights and a flat plate is attached to the distal end of the other upright. The cradle holds the hoof in an elevated generally horizontal position to provide access to the bottom of the hoof, while the flat plate provides an elevated platform to support the bottom of the hoof to provide convenient access to the anterior of the hoof. An optional upright with an anvil attachment can be removably substituted for either of the other two uprights.
U.S. Pat. No. 89,379, issued to Blackburn, discloses a rest for shoeing horses with a thick base and a hinged, v-shaped member upon which the horse hoof rests. The arms of the v-shaped member extend vertically upward, and one of the arms is hinged to pivot to the side when the weight of the hoof is placed on the v-shaped member. The Blackburn device includes an incremental ratchet adjustment to raise and lower the v-shaped member relative to the base.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,562 issued to Hammonds, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,325,154; 6,640,905; and 6,848,512, all issued to Keeler, teach variations of stands for holding and positioning the lower leg of a horse while the horse is being shoed, or its hoofs cleaned, or the like.
The inventor believes that all known prior art devices, while useful for their intended purposes, are less than ideal in many situations. For example, many horses may be less than ideally cooperative when one is trying to position their leg. Therefore, any device that forces the user to pre-adjust an exact position for the horse's leg might not be effective for such animals. Furthermore, it should be noted that any horse might, on some occasion, jerk or bolt away from the farrier or other user. Therefore, any it is important to provide a device which will minimize the risk of injury to the animal in such circumstances.
What is needed is a device that will be comfortable and safe for both the human user and the horse. However, to the inventor's knowledge, all known prior art devices have not provided a complete solution to the above described problems.